President Barack Obama, a big basketball fan, tweeted his congratulations to the University of Dayton for its “huge upset win” over Syracuse University in the second round of the NCAA men’s basketball college championship on Saturday.

Mike Conley scored 21 points, Zach Randolph added 18 points and 13 rebounds, and the Memphis Grizzlies held the Indiana Pacers to their lowest output of the season in an 82-71 victory on Saturday night.

Bill Parcells left his seat in his private box at home games three or four times in the slightly more than two seasons he spent running the Dolphins. He couldn’t suppress the coach in him taking over his emotions and instincts, he had no control over what was happening on the field after 19 years as an NFL head coach, so he left the stadium.

Phil Jackson may turn out to be a champion as a front-office guy the way he was a champion in the NBA as a coach. Because of his beliefs and presence and status in the sport, he may well hire the right coach and right general manager eventually and recruit the right players and make the Knicks at least a title contender again for the first time in 14 years.

42 comments on “Knicks Morning News (2014.03.23)”

U know what really feels good about Knickdom right now, apart from the win streak? A great hire (though not a guarantee of success) on the surface, talk of vision, system & culture change, and Dolan candidly admitting his failures as a basketball exec. Add the win streak, Melo trying to effect the game in more ways than scoring (and doing pretty good at it) as well as becoming more of a vocal leader (bad timing of the in huddle tiff notwithstanding), and the recent surge from Tyson and STAT, and suddenly there’s refreshing hope in the air of Knickdom. Maybe I’m being too optimistic, but as a Knick fan I have spent way too much time calling for someone’s head and hoping for trades, as have most of us. Now I am more anxious to see what the future holds for the franchise and I have more reason to believe that it’s gonna look much better. We had mostly the same thing when Walsh and D’Antoni were brought in, we just didn’t have honest-ish Dolan. And the fact that we have that now is very refreshing.

I don’t think “rotation player on a playoff team their rookie season” is a reliable measuring stick, as it is rare for teams to make the playoffs a year after drafting a player very high in the draft. The Magic didn’t with Shaq, the Cavs didn’t with Lebron, the Magic didn’t with Howard, the Sonics didn’t with Durant, the Clippers didn’t with Griffin, the Hornets didn’t with Davis.

I don’t think “rotation player on a playoff team their rookie season” is a reliable measuring stick, as it is rare for teams to make the playoffs a year after drafting a player very high in the draft. The Magic didn’t with Shaq, the Cavs didn’t with Lebron, the Magic didn’t with Howard, the Sonics didn’t with Durant, the Clippers didn’t with Griffin, the Hornets didn’t with Davis.

Okay, the Hawks just missed two good looks at buckets and the Raptors have gotten two huge offensive rebounds. One led to a basket and one led to a foul. They are now up 1 with exactly two minutes left, shooting two free throws.

This Korver absence could be huge if it persists any longer down the stretch of the season. He missed their Friday loss to the Pelicans as well with back spasms. Knicks still in with a chance if they can take care of business against the Cavs tonight. Even crazier is the Knicks will only be 10 games under .500 with a win tonight. Progress.

We don’t have to worry about that stuff anymore. This Knicks team is actually taking care of business. What I am worried about is those games against Phoenix, Golden State, Chicago, Miami, Brooklyn (twice!) and to a lesser extent, Toronto (not that the Raptors are that good, but beating them twice will be tough). Those games are the ones that could easily sink the season, since the Hawks obviously won’t be losing out, ya know?

I don’t think I can realistically ever watch a Knicks game and not feel a certain kind of anxiety that they may lose. Maybe back in their 90’s heyday with Ewing and co. I chalked up wins, but even last season I never felt that way and won’t until we establish ourselves as a winning franchise over the course of multiple seasons.

I had that feeling last year. I was pretty darn confident in them coming back in games because they did it so often. So I always felt that the team would pull it out. I stopped having that feeling about this year’s team and I’ll certainly admit that if this year’s team enters a fourth quarter trailing by more than a few points I figure that they will lose. However, what I’ve seen from them recently is at least the return to “We’re going to beat the shitty teams. We might not beat the good teams, but we will beat the shitty teams.”

Also, come on, the Cavs don’t even have Irving! And they might not even have Deng! I guess the Knicks could lose to them through some Woody-led delirium, but I would be very shocked by that happening.

I agree, but at the same time, Casey has made some odd decisions with his bench. For instance, he barely plays Novak, but when he does play him, he never runs plays for him. Seriously, Casey? Why in the world would you ever put Steve Novak in a game and not try to get him the ball? He can’t do anything but shoot threes (and he is, of course, once again having an awesome year from three – 44%) and yet Casey often plays him and doesn’t get him looks! Like today. Nine minutes – no shots! What’s the point?

What’s even worse about that is he plays Salmons over Novak. What the hell is Salmons giving you that Novak doesn’t? Terrible shot making ability off the dribble vs. no shot making ability off the dribble? Missing clutch free throws? Poor shot selection? Inferior three point shooting? Slightly less atrocious defense?

What’s even worse about that is he plays Salmons over Novak. What the hell is Salmons giving you that Novak doesn’t? Terrible shot making ability off the dribble vs. no shot making ability off the dribble? Missing clutch free throws? Poor shot selection? Inferior three point shooting? Slightly less atrocious defense?

Now that he is finally maybe/kind of/possibly healthy (nerve damage in your shooting hand is a weird injury, so I really don’t know if he’ll ever truly be healthy), Fields should likely also be playing over Salmons. The weirdest thing happened the other week – Ross was hurt so Casey started Fields and Fields played well in a good win over Golden State (24 minutes, 4-5 from the field, 6 boards). And then Ross came back and Fields went right back to DNPs. Casey is an odd coach (to be fair to him, Colangelo did give him waaaay too many small forwards to work with).

Yeah Owen, totally agree. There was a play late in the game where Early clearly got hit on the arm at the rim and then I think Cauley-Stein grabbed the rebound and extended his forearm into him, neither being called. That last play for Wichita was fucking bizarro though. Throw it to the top of the key with 3.2 seconds left to the one guy who really can’t create his own shot and isn’t a particularly good three point shooter.

Btw, speaking of college basketball, Minnesota seems to have discovered Gorgui Dieng, who had a pretty strong season last year in college, hiding on their bench. Played super solid today, although he has been nowhere in evidence in the fourth quarter. +10 for what that’s worth, and it appears he has played pretty well of late…..

Also, Eric Bledsoe back, looks like Nascar out there. Thought he was done for the year. +23

Also, why Corey Brewer continues to get so much time is a mystery to me….